May 30, 2011

Pin It
Well, I've done it. I've gone and quilted the largest playmat ever. Well, maybe not ever..... but this thing is HUGE!

Our Modern Quilt Guild was given a Kona Charm Pack in the bright color palette. We were to make a quilt using "Summer Fun" as a theme. One day in the shower it came to me that I should make my Kona quilt a hopscotch game. After all, the Twister quilt went over really well.... this would be just as fun.

We were allowed to add one solid for background and one additional print or solid. At first I chose, a green print from Tweet Tweet by Keiki for Moda. But after sewing the print into the cornerstones for ALL TEN blocks AND adding the number appliques, I decided I hated the look!!

There was a ton of green in the charm pack and the green print added sensory confusion in my opinion. I debated just to leave it and finish the darn thing. (Enter "Angry sewing") So after a little break from working on it, I decided I couldn't let it alone.

CRAZY = I took all the frames off the center squares, removed the cornerstones, replaced them with Kona Bahama Blue, cut new center squares, repieced the blocks, recut all the numbers, fused 1-10, and zigzaged all the applique.

Only problem is....AGAIN, I am giving away another game quilt. This time to friend having triplets this summer. So my four-year old is AGAIN denied (I gave away the original Twister quilt too). He's the perfect age for this. My two boys have loved playing on it all gloomy rainy spring.

May 28, 2011

Pin It
Somehow I missed the memo that I should end the giveaway from GiveAway Day at SMS before the holiday weekend.....so here I am writing this post in the middle of our holiday weekend plans..... Painting!!!! Yay! We are painting our master bedroom.

Only problem is......the QUILT isn't done yet. I have 40 of 42 blocks done for the queen size quilt done in Nicey Jane and Kona Maize. I've been busting out the blocks recently, and 2 days ago, I ran out of fabric. Ack! Well, my order is on the way. Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. And welcome to any new followers. I promise I've got some fun up my sleeves for the summer!

May 27, 2011

What a great Friday...as we lead up to Memorial Day weekend!! Yay! I have a great feature for you today... My friend Cristin from Sew This is My Life. We met through our branch of MQG and have been quilting buddies ever since (going to meet Amy Butler and road tripping the Cincy Quilt Show). She has a fantastic modern style, let's learn more about her....

Cristin of Worthington, OH

Occupation: I'm technically a Stay at Home Mom and Wife, but used to work in the Medical Insurance industry and still do some VERY part time work from home for my old employer.

Significant Other/Kids/Pets: I'm married to an Electrical Engineer for 7 years this month... We have a 14mo old son named Eli who is so silly, and we love him to pieces... and a doggie named Hazel, she's part Lhasa Apso and part Poodle.

# Years Quilting: 2.5 years

Hand or machine piecing or quilting: I absolutely prefer machine piecing for the speed (as I have very little sewing time with a 1yo running around!) but I do have a small box of hand-sewn hexagons, which is technically "English paper piecing" although I have yet to do anything with those hexagons. Someday, I'm sure!

As for quilting, I also prefer machine due to: 1) Speed 2)Speed and 3) SPEED

I enjoy quilting smaller quilts on my little home sewing machine, but I also rent time on a Mid-Arm quilting machine at my LQS. If you have access to a mid or long-arm quilting machine, I HIGHLY recommend it! Its precise, no wrestling with a huge quilt at home, and your quilting design options are virtually endless! I do someday plan to try hand quilting, but I'm sure that won't happen for years.

How you learned to quilt: About 5 years ago my MIL invited me to take a beginners quilting class with her at Joanns. We went, had a fun time, and I made a wall-hanging size quilt. Those classes gave me a good foundation for quilting, although I'd say online tutorials from bloggers and YouTube taught me all the other fun techniques. I've also been in two Virtual Quilting Bees on Flickr... and that forced me to try new blocks and techniques as well.

Favorite Completed Project Description:My favorite quilt thus far is the Tufted Tweets Lattice Quilt that I made for my sister and her new husband for Christmas, although I didn't finish it until the end of January. In Sept '10 I had first seen a lattice quilt from Film in the Fridge and just knew I wanted to make one. I figured out how to make the block (bigger, as that means LESS blocks, right?!) and started working away. I thought I had plenty of time to finish it by Christmas but I then got talked into doing my first Craft Show which was in December so I set aside said quilt and worked on craft show items.... thus this quilt was late, but still well received. I still have the Purple and Green/Blue colorways of Tufted Tweets so I still want to make one for myself. Again... someday!

Quilting workstation setup: My setup is pretty basic, as I have to share with our home office, and general storage. We have a teeny 2 bedroom town home so I've been forced into the basement (albeit nicely finished!) once we found out Eli would be joining us. I have a set of shelves to store fabric, a cutting table that folds down to 7" wide, and an old Ikea kitchen table that serves as my sewing table. It works just nicely for me, although I would KILL for some natural light! Maybe in our next home, which we're working on as we speak! We've had over half a dozen showings, but no offers yet... sigh.

Machine(s) you sew on: About 3 years ago I was using my moms old Sears Kenmore which is definitely older than I am (nothing wrong with that!) But it was giving me a lot of problems, so I took it to my local sewing machine repair guy for a tune up. Little did I know that my husband and MIL snuck in and purchased a brand new Janome Magnolia for me, while my old machine was being fixed! They presented it to me on my birthday, before my old one was even ready. It was a spectacular birthday, to be sure! Side note: My Janome is nothing fancy, is not high-end, but it works great for me right now! Someday I might upgrade just so I have a wider throat to wrestle quilts through... and maybe more stitches per minute too.

Favorite tool in your sewing room: I have a lot of favorite sewing tools: my Olfa rotary cutter, my Gingher knife blade scissors, my huge cutting mat that covers the entire cutting table (but its in storage right now!) But my all time favorite is probably my open toed free-motion foot. I bought the non-modified foot from my local sewing machine repair shop, and he took out his little rotary grinder and notched out about 1/3" from the front, and now its open! And I can see what I'm quilting, and its fabulous!

angry sew·ing

Do you know "angry sewing"? Well, I do. I recently had a rather large thorn in my side while working on the Kona Challenge Quilt for CMQG. I had 10 blocks together, had to rip everything out, and start over. The angry comes in during the ripping out and resewing phase. I'll show you this finish next week (I wanted to share it on Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday). But let me tell you, there were a few choice cuss words uttered while working on it.

In the meantime, I got so frustrated working on the Kona quilt, I decided to completely avoid it for a day or two (even though the deadline was looming). To make sewing happy again, I decided this bag would do the trick.

It's reversible! Which is exactly what I had in mind for this fabric found at my recent Quilt Show adventures. I used 4 fat quarters.

Now I have a fun spring bag! It's definitely NOT perfect. I always seem to have some trouble doing curves and bags with shapes other than square. But as long as no one is inspecting it, I think it's cute.

Best of all, I made it in about 2 hours and it cured the angry sewing.

Lesson learned: Sometimes an easy instant-gratification sewing project will help you regain your patience for quilting and piecing.

Or in this case, re-piecing.

sorry for the glare - it was a beautiful day yesterday AND these pics were taken by my 4 yr old

May 22, 2011

1. I ordered some new business cards, and of course I needed something to put them in. I made 2 of these and am giving one to the lucky winner. The business card holder is made from vintage sheets. If you don't win, but still want one, I used this tutorial - very easy!

2. 4 fat quarters.... one Leanika/Lovebirds from Dena Designs (which reminds me of vintage sheets - can you tell I'm really getting into those??) and three from Summer Song, Riley Blake. And some adorable little red buttons from Boutique Buttons.

3. The winner will also get to choose one of my patterns shown below.

Whew! Is that good? One handmade item, some fabric, and one pattern!

While you're here, I hope you'll sit back and paruse Gen X Quilters for bit. There's always a lot going on....fabrics swaps, contests, etc. If you like it, I hope you'll come back soon. If you've been here a while, thanks for listening. I've grown SO much since starting this blog and I'm so glad to have made so many friends. I don't sew alone in my basement anymore! (Well, I guess I still do...but now I have YOU to share things with.) My 1st blogiversary is coming up soon!

To enter for the GiveAway, simply leave me a comment here on this post. If you are so inclined, tell me something you'd like to see from GXQ in the future.

The GiveAway will remain open until Friday, May 27, 2011. And I am willing to ship internationally.

The winner will be chosen by a Random Number Generator and announced on
Saturday, May 28, 2011. Pin It

May 20, 2011

Pin It
Happy Friday! This time I really am featuring Riel of The Q and the U. This post was eaten by blogger last week - so I've spent double time getting to know her..ha! Actually, I already knew Riel's super unique and creative work from her entry in the Love Nest Quilt Contest. Impressive for sure! Let's get to know more about her...

Occupation: I am a mother and writer. I write a regular column about Collectibles for our provincial newspaper, the Telegraph-Journal and I am thrilled that my first novel, The Town That Drowned, will be published this September. I’m writing my second novel now and guess what? There’s a character who quilts this time.

# Years Quilting: I have quilted for about a year and a half.

How You Learned to Quilt: After two early disastrous attempts to make quilts, I taught myself through trial and error and by reading as much as I could about quilting online. If you’re interested in more details (aka a long-winded explanation) about my frustrating start to quilting, the story is on my blog here. I do all my piecing and quilting by machine. I quilt my smaller quilts myself, but I have never done any of the big ones (my last two quilts have been about 100 inches square). I send them to a local long-arm quilter and I have always been pleased.

Favorite Completed Project: My favorite recent completed project is a quilt that is currently done to quilt top form but not yet quilted. Like a lot of people, my favorite is usually the last quilt I made. It’s a quilt called Love-Serendipity-Family and it is a selvage quilt. I love selvage quilting because it is such a new wide-open area of quilting with so much room for innovation. It is fun and challenging to keep coming up with new ways to use selvages.

The Love-Serendipity-Family quilt is for our quilt guild show in the fall. The theme this year is Serendipity. On a side note, a friend and I joined the local quilt guild last year and it has been a great experience. It doesn’t matter in the slightest that we are the youngest members. The ladies in the guild are all excited about quilting, the same as us. They have the same enthusiasm, just with tons more experience. It is fun to go to the monthly meetings and see the “Show and Share.”

Sewing WorkSpace: My sewing room is actually my home office, which is gradually being taken over by fabric. I think I knew for sure that I was definitely hooked on quilting when I moved my comfy couch out of the office to make way for my ironing board. I am fortunate that the room I sew in opens onto the play room/ family room so it is very easy for the whole family to be down there together having fun, doing our own thing, but still chatting back and forth.

May 18, 2011

I've been watching all of you posting your pretty little pouches and I've been SO jealous!! They all look so adorable! Unfortunately, I just didn't have time to participate (running 2 swaps here takes up a bit of time), so I decided just to make my own.

It's about 7.5" x 9.5" and made from linen in natural and a few scraps of vintage sheets. I added some fusible fleece to give it body too.

I made it for a friend of ours we were going to visit in Rochester, NY at the beginning of May. I think she liked it!

So fun! I definitely need one of these for myself. I love whipping up these little projects from my stash. So even though I'm not in the swap, I was still inspired by all of you!

May 16, 2011

Hello everyone! I am very excited to bring to you Gen X Quilters' new sponsor, Sew Obsessed!

I have a secret dream to own my own quilt shop someday. Well, I guess it's not a secret since I just told you...and my husband already knows! :) Anywho, I really admire ladies (and guys) who run both online and brick-and-mortar shops. The Sew Obsessed ladies do just that - BOTH!

Sew Obsessed is owned by sisters Annie and Lorna - it is a brick and mortar shop in Las Vegas that just opened in March. And they have now (as of May 9!) launched a new online fabric shop for all of us to browse. What fun!

Annie and Lorna are offering THIS Fat Quarter bundle of Nicey Jane as a giveaway in their introduction to you!

Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, 7 FAT QUARTERS

(I have some NJ in the other colorway....if you don't have some already, it is just gorgeous!)

Here’s how to enter:1. Become a follower of GXQ and leave me a comment (or let me know if you already are one). (1 entry)2. Hop on over to Sew Obsessedand tell me your favorite finds in a comment. (1 entry)3. Go toAnnie's blogand become a follower there (or let me know if you already are one). (1 entry)4. Go to Sew Obsessed Facebook pageand "like" FF. (1 entry)5. Go toGen X Quilters Facebook pageand "like" GXQ. (1 entry)Leave a separate comment for each entry on this post. Entries will be accepted until Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST. This Giveaway is now closed.The winner will be chosen by a Random Number Generator and announced on Sunday, May 22, 2011.Pin It

May 14, 2011

Hello to everyone who is visiting from the Blogger's Quilt Festival! It was easy for me to decide which quilt to display here....this one is SO much fun! I still have the second one in the cue...

I love this quilt. I made this one for my neice and nephews, but let me tell you, as soon as it started coming together, there was a certain little man who insisted we have one too.

With all the circles cropping up in quilts lately, I somehow decided that I must make a Twister quilt. The game is a classic....and quilts tend to be heirlooms....so why not combine the two? It would look awesome on either a girl's or boy's bed - so bright and colorful. Plus, you can actually use it to play a hilarious game!

﻿

It started out with me and a 9" dinner plate. Trace, cut. Round and round we go. I cut enough for 2 Twister quilts.

The next part is the crazy part. This is actually a whole cloth quilt. Yikes. I pieced two large white sections together, then fused the circles in place. Measure and remeasure for even spacing of the circles. Oi vey. I wouldn't do that part again. I thought the whole cloth look would make the quilt as a whole look so much cleaner, but the sheer fact that it is super time-consuming will have me applique-ing the circles on blocks next time.

﻿

﻿

Nonetheless, I pressed on with the gameboard! Applique circles were secured by machine with a tight zigzag. The center motifs are hand embroidery.

I cannot believe I will embark on a second one of these, but my boys definitely need one. My 4 year old was just too excited to play it every day until we had to wrap it up. Poor guy, I was so worried he'd get it dirty before we gifted it, that every time he came near it, I asked to see if his socks were clean.

Then when his cousins opened it, he proceeded to give them a lecture on how you must wear clean socks on the quilt!﻿

Copyright

Thank you for reading and being a part of this blog. Although I am sharing all of this content with you, please remember that I reserve all rights to the photos, blog posts, and all other content of this site. Feel free to link back to Gen X Quilters, but beyond that, please contact me for permission to use any of the content of this blog.